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Friday, July 11, 2008

BTN brainwashing

I'm not surprised by the brainwashing that goes on in BTN (BiroTataNegara) sessions in public universities. I would like to attend one just for the experience. In the meantime, check this blog post by someone who did attend one such session. I'll reproduce it below and let our readers react as they see fit. Someone should record one of these sessions and see what the public reaction is like once its posted on youtube.

(NOTE: This is an email i received from a reader exposing the latest brain washing tricks deployed by UMNO's apparatus called Biro Tatanegara(BTN). Mind you BTN is 100% funded by tax payer's money)

Biro Tatanegara. Does it ring a bell? Government propaganda or honest student development programme? For those who aren't aware of it, Biro Tatanegara or BTN for short is under the Jabatan Perdana Menteri and it has several modules which all public university students have to attend in the name of "Student Development". On the 6th of July 2008 in UiTM Shah Alam, there were three separate talks being held under BTN with the first one being titled "Pendidikan", second one titled "Ancaman Keselamatan Negara" and the third one titled, "Patriotisma". Smell anything funny yet? No? Read on. You won't even have to smell it after you are done reading this. It'll be stuffed down your throat.

I would like to only focus on the first speaker, Dr. Idris bin Md. Noor. He was supposed to talk about education as that was the title of his speech, but the content was far different. He first went on with the usual introductions but in less than a few minutes, he suddenly touched on the forum on the discussion of social contract in Malaysia that the BAR council organized. He criticized it with all his heart, saying no one should discuss about it as it is unquestionable. Fair enough, I thought at first. Freedom of speech right? But what if he suddenly accuses the "Malay" speaker in the forum, which I'm guessing is Farish A. Noor, as a traitor to the Malay race as a whole? And while he was browsing through his files on the laptop which was projected on the big screen, it was no surprise for me that I saw files entitled "Ketuanan Melayu". He also then went on about the Malay's obsession with magic and ghosts, he said that it is all wrong beliefs through the perspective of Islam because if they really could use magic and other dark arts for fighting, then they should kill Karpal Singh with it.

There are so many quotable sentences, if only I could remember it all. He even said, "Kalau ular dengan India depan mata, ketuk India dulu." He then started to become more impassioned in his speech towards the end, like someone campaigning for a political seat yet failed, and resorted to a multi-purpose hall with bumiputra students. He said so many atrocious things that I will list them down in point form.

-Explained how the Malays aren't racist but others are racist towards us.-Bangsa Malaysia does not exist, neither does Malaysian Chinese and Indians, only in the strict Malay, Chinese and Indians. (Interestingly, behind a booklet provided to us, one of the objectives of the programme is to produce a -"Bangsa Malaysia". Obviously, he was ignorant).-Bahasa Malaysia does not exist, it is Bahasa Melayu.-Nothing wrong with waving the Keris.-Bumiputra hanya 55% di Malaysia, give birth more people!-The University and Colleges Act was partly made to ensure a Malay Vice-Chancellor in Universities which should be the way.-Blogs are "berdosa" or sinful.-Christians will not like Muslims.

But that isn't even the best part. The best part is, he showed a short film on thedangers of Zionism and the illegal occupation of Palestine which was probably the only part of the speech I agreed with and I thought to myself this could be the only fact of the speech but surprise, surprise, at the end of the film, there was a montage of so-called Zionist supporters with the pictures of Anwar Ibrahim, Tian Chua, Teresa Kok, Hishamuddin Rais and Ezam Md. Nor. Then a question popped up in my head. Is Ezam still a Zionist supporter since he is in UMNO now? Does that mean the government has a Zionist supporter as well as the opposition? And expectedly, the speaker was being more anti-semitic than anti-zionist. He even explained how the Pakatan Rakyat ruled states are all going down the drain and he says, "this is what you get if you vote for the opposition!" He criticized Anwar Ibrahim and his colleagues so much along with Pakatan Rakyat while being completely oblivious towards Barisan Nasional's mistakes. As if they have perfect policies.

This was supposed to be a speech touching on education and look how it ended up. It did not even smell anything of education. It was a speech that was not meant for national unity at all. How could it be when you spread hate? I could only sit and ponder quietly while all this was happening. But the speech was not the saddest part. The saddest part was that the majority of students in the hall were cheering him on. I will type out part of the lyrics that were supplied to us, entitled, "Warisan".

22 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Record the event? How?I went to BTN before, twice [1]BTN asas for undergrads, [2]BTN kenegaraan luar negara for sponsored students. On both camps, we have to surrender our mobile phones. Photography session in the hall were banned. And you want video recording? fat chance.Besides, who wants to get caught and being penalised?

BTN is a sheer waste of time. It is good only for those who want free makan...Anyway there is no point brainwashing if the brain is already in the comatose state...heheYou can brainwash them till the cows come home but their minds will be else whereRemember you cannot undo in days what evolution has done in millions of yearsMaybe they should introduce new syllabus in BTN such as how to make C4 using simple kitchen utensils

this is really dangerous, to teach uni students to be wary of other races and plant hatred like that. thank goodness I don't have to attend any as a private institution student. I hope the voice of reason and logic will be able to drown this fanatism out.

The uni admin thought that the students are still living under the coconut shell while other institutions of higher learning (mostly private and regional) are busy positioning themselves in the eyes of the world. And they (the admin) must surely have underestimated the power of ICT and Internet can do to the younger generations and presumptively overrated the naivety of the undergraduates. You guys think that the students would be easily sweet-talked into believing all these shenanigans? Fat Hope! lol

been there, done that. still feel my temperature rising whenever i think of it. we sat through lectures where we were told the pope was a terrorist and non-malays should be sent back to 'our countries'. you should see the final 'exam' we had to take: multiple choice, just pick the answer that criticizes non-malay races the most. for those of us who get scholarships to go overseas, this is one of our last experiences before we leave. is it surprising that so many decide they never want to return?

and yes, all recording equipment confiscated. and they are very careful to count and make sure every bit of material they gave us was returned.

I myself am a Malay but I'm against this brainwashing camp. My conclusion from these two sessions is that their mindset is so entrenched in a certain belief/ideology such that it clouds the whole truth about the reality and the dynamics of our country.

i'm very astonished as to why hasnt anyone from the malay or the non-malay camp ever brought this up? BTNs have been held for years now and no politician from either BN nor the PR even mentioned it in parliament. such brainswashing of youths in our institutions of higher learning is akin to the hitler youth camps in 1930's germany. if anyone in germany now even attempted to reestablish the hitler youth, he'd surely be condemned to the fullest by society and the law. and yet in msia, our youths are being fed poison every year and this tak apa attitude prevails.

the worst is that the students and faculty, especially the non malay ones, do not say a thing after attending these seminars. were they all sleeping during the seminar? maybe they were even applauding to the seminar. even if you are afraid of offending your uni authorities while still being a student, i nvr see even a single GRADUATE coming out and made a complaint about BTN. and ppl once said that non malays who got into IPTA are the cream of the nation. bah!

Want to pass BTN? simple only... just be smart and make the instructor happy, even to the extent that non-malays are indebted to malays, and non-malays should be grateful(don't condemn me, this is what I'd being told!) In activities, give your most stupid and biased answers and be a great pretender. Trust me, if you follow these instructions, you tutup both eyes also can pass.

If the purpose of the BTN is to instill and promote unity, it should be open in the first place. The very fact that it does not allow cameras, phones or any recording devices clearly shows that it DOES HAVE something to HIDE. I hope there would be a brave enough person to bootleg the speech and spread the recording on the internet.

It is understandable that students do not kick up a fuss because they refuse to be penalized and get into a spot later on. Especially those with scholarships at stake.

the worst thing about BTN is the fact that they threaten us with 13 May 69 if we don't accept the social contract that our forefathers have formulated prior to independence. they condemn the BERSIH and HINDRAF demonstrations with videos that only portray half the story and they project photos of the gory deaths of innocent civilians in the Middle East to scare us students into submission. i have to disagree with those who claim that BTN has no brainwashing power. it does. especially for students who do not read any alternative media (which most tend to do). the malays would return believing in their superior status and the non-malays would submit to the fact that nothing can be done since they don't really belong to this nation anyway. they are still immigrants after 50 years and would forever be indebted to the malays for their citizenship.

I encountered roughly the same thing during the Asian Law Students International Conference this year in KL

Mukhriz Mahathir presented us with a video filled with all these stuff.

It was such an embarrassment to me (the fact that I'm a Malaysian delegate) with all the other asian law students present. A lot of them walked out (I walked out too) and severely criticized us, asking "Why do you hate others so much!?"

Yes, as a Malaysian, we find ourselves in situations we have to help people transition over the stupid policies made in Malaysia and let them see the good part of Malaysia. I hope I have to do less of that in the future.

I personally know some friends who went to BTN. The respond: It's brainwashing.

It's also interesting how BTN separates male and female in the canteen when the students are supposed to be prepared to go to overseas (UK, Australia, US, Ireland and so on).

Do they actually try to prep students for a open lifestyle or are they trying to make people conform to this ultra conservative lifestyle?

And what's with all the bashing toward non-Malays? I have said this a thousand times but I will repeat again.

If all Chinese and Indians migrate out of Malaysia this very moment, the economy of Malaysia will crash. Don't expect the Malays relying on the tongkat from NEP to be able to lead this country's economy. And that's a reasonable prediction.

So Malays, the next time you urge a Chinese or an Indian to "balik negara sendiri", slap yourself twice and kick yourself in the belly first before saying it because if the Chinese/Indian does "balik negara diri", you will suffer more than just the pain of 2 slaps and 1 kick in the belly.

A 15 day session to brainwash is no effect at all.The freshies shall take it in possitive mannar and forget it in due time of their carrier.Its quite understandable the pain under gone by the morron.Despite the entire govt policies tailored to uplift the Malays went down the drain.Its boling to see unaided students faring well compared to Malays.The govt should view its policies and approach to mmet the needs of the people.A child goes to religious school in the morning or afternoon, depending on the regular school time table.The exposure and language should compensate for the child education excellecne.The point is compare among the own kind bet the successful and left behine chlld of the upbringing.No amount of rights issue can bring about the child success.

Read the Malaysia Constitution lah people..Talk too much but dont know much things.. Dont say BTN racist or whatsoever..we are all racists in fact.. Replying to anonymous: saying to chinese/indian to go back to ur country, would u dare do that? Definitely NO, right! we dont say that bcos we dont want that..Everyone have their own opinions right, so, be it...look for different perceptions and dont always consider urself to be true.. There is no single objective truth in politics..

pity the students, they becomes guinea pigs to some over zealous but brainless speakers. No wonder the students becomes very structured. How to get a job in the private companies if can't think out of the box. Poor students, brainwashed and bullied even before they starts learning.

Always want to be No. 1 but rated far below by forcing their way through. Mud mentality. Sad for the students. Always Malaysia Bolehhhhhhhhh.